In the past three decades or so, it has become the custom to ship goods in containers rather than ship the goods in separate units. These goods containing containers have standardized dimensions and are loaded on and off freighters and tractor trailers by cranes and other suitable equipment.
The use of containers in the shipping industry has become so great that there are over 20 million unlocked shipping containers in the world. Since the containers are unlocked, there is a strong temptation throughout the world to steal the valuable goods from the unlocked containers. International rings have become established. They focus on stealing and marketing the expensive stolen goods. Indeed, the problem of theft has become so great that there are over 10 billion dollars in reported losses from containers per annum in North America alone. The majority of illegal drugs are transported throughout the world in shipping containers. It has also become prevalent to transport illegal aliens in containers. Thousands of tractor-trailers hauling containers are stolen monthly. Container theft not only is costly but it causes lengthy delays in the delivery of goods. Losses are so high that many insurance companies refuse to insure against container theft and some container companies are forced to self-insure against container and container content theft.